This work is based on fragments of the text Embargo, from the book Objecto Quase (1978) by José Saramago (1922–2010), in which – within this selection – none of the words contains the letter “i”. Moreover, the text recited by the female voice also completely omits the letter “e”. As a result of this textual restriction, the music is also limited to only 11 notes of the chromatic scale, with the note E flat excluded (the letter “i" in Portuguese sounds exactly the same as the letter “e” in English).

Both voices must recite the text while simultaneously typing it, approximately, on a computer keyboard. This establishes a connection between the character in Saramago’s story and the archetypal figures of this musical work: just as the protagonist of “Embargo” finds himself trapped inside his own car, the reciters are trapped within their keyboards, unconsciously imprisoned by a technology so ordinary and necessary that both enables and confines them, as they only become aware of it when they attempt to escape. The title itself is also a direct quotation from one of the sentences in Saramago’s work.

Finally, this work also includes an optional visual component, which highlights the typing of the text by the reciters. The video is inspired by the split-screen tradition often used by filmmakers and audiovisual essayists. Aesthetically, it draws inspiration from the 1922 work The Hands of Antonin Artaud by the visual artist Man Ray (1890–1976).